News and Trends 5 Aug 2020 Oxford Nanopore’s Portable Covid-19 Test Launched in UK UK biotech Oxford Nanopore has launched a portable test that can detect both Covid-19 and seasonal flu viruses in saliva or swabs in a little over an hour. The quick output of Oxford Nanopore’s test, called LamPORE, is expected to be a huge improvement on existing polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, considered the gold standard […] August 5, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 30 Jul 2020 Llama-Derived Nanobodies Join the Fight Against Covid-19 Newly-launched Belgian startup ExeVir Bio will develop ‘nanobodies’ that bind very precisely to key areas of the Covid-19 virus and other coronaviruses after raking in €23M in Series A. Based in Ghent, Belgium, ExeVir Bio is a spin-out of the research institute VIB established with the help of life sciences investor Fund+. Other investors include […] July 30, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 29 Jul 2020 Covid-19 Forces Gene Therapy Companies to Shift Strategy Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, gene therapy companies are suffering, with clinical trials delayed and investors remaining cautious in an increasingly volatile market. Yet many have set their sights on what could potentially turn into a gold mine: applying their technology to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The UK’s Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult […] July 29, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 22 Jul 2020 Inhaled Treatment Reduces Severe Covid-19 Risk by 79% An experimental Covid-19 treatment that is delivered directly to the lungs via a nebulizer reduced the risk of mortality and the need for mechanical ventilation in a phase II trial. In the trial, the lead candidate of UK-based biotech Synairgen drove down by 79% the risk of severe disease symptoms such as requiring mechanical ventilation […] July 22, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Jul 2020 Russian Hackers Launch Cyber Attack on Covid-19 Vaccine Developers The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the UK stated this week that several organizations involved in Covid-19 vaccine development in the UK, US, and Canada have been targeted in a cyber attack by a Russian hacking group known as APT29. The NCSC says that APT29, also known as ‘the Dukes’ or ‘Cozy Bear,’ is […] July 17, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 16 Jul 2020 European Biotech Stocks Shine Amid 2020 Market Slump As the Covid-19 pandemic leads us to the worst financial crisis in decades, normally volatile biotech stocks are outperforming most other sectors of the economy. Experts say this trend is likely to continue. Financial markets are in flux and according to a recent study by the Boston Consulting Group, the global economic slump caused by […] July 16, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Jul 2020 Osivax Raises €32M to Develop Universal Coronavirus and Influenza Vaccines Osivax, a Lyon-based biotechnology company, secured €17.5M from the European Innovation Council and €15.1M from Bpifrance. The funding will be used to develop vaccines that protect from all current – and even future – flu and coronavirus outbreaks. Most current vaccines have a specific target protein they work against. They train the immune system to […] July 8, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Kostas Vavitsas Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 8 Jul 2020 Remdesivir Becomes the First Covid-19 Treatment Approved in Europe Remdesivir has received a one-year conditional marketing authorization from the European Commission due to the urgency of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected at least 2.5 million people in Europe, and killed more than 500,000. The intravenous drug, manufactured by US pharma company Gilead Sciences, is intended for adults and children over the age of […] July 8, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 3 Jul 2020 Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 Vaccine Shows Phase I Promise A vaccine made out of messenger RNA (mRNA), developed by the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, has produced antibodies against the Covid-19 pathogen in healthy volunteers. The results come from an interim analysis of an ongoing phase I clinical trial in 45 participants. So far, all test subjects who received two […] July 3, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Victor Kotsev Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 18 Jun 2020 Belgian mRNA Vaccine for Covid-19 Receives €34M Series B Boost Belgian biotech eTheRNA has secured €34M in Series B funding to progress to the clinic its Covid-19 vaccine candidate and cancer immunotherapies made from messenger RNA. The company’s five existing investors contributed to the round, including Dutch VC firm LSP, and the Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, based in Germany. Four new investors also contributed — […] June 18, 2020 - 3 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
News and Trends 17 Jun 2020 German Government Invests €300M in mRNA Biotech CureVac The Federal Republic of Germany will invest €300M in CureVac, the homegrown biotech that is developing a vaccine for Covid-19 using messenger RNA technology. The unusually large investment will be made through the state-owned bank Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, which will gain a 23% stake in the company. “CureVac retains complete operational and strategic independence,” Franz-Werner […] June 17, 2020 - 4 minutesmins - By Helen Albert Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email
In Depth 17 Jun 2020 How is European Biotech Rising to the Covid-19 Testing Challenge? Diagnostics have been thrown into the spotlight in the Covid-19 pandemic because of their instrumental role in preventing further infections. However, developing a test for Covid-19 isn’t an easy task. What exactly is needed to make a good Covid-19 test, and how are European biotech companies working to fill this need? While the development of […] June 17, 2020 - 10 minutesmins - By Mark Livingstone Share WhatsApp Twitter Linkedin Email